- Alternative Character Interpretation: A biographical example, given the character in focus. Just how much autonomy did Dzhokhar truly have throughout this entire terrorist plot? Did he join his brother in the bombing on his own volition? Or was he strong-armed into becoming an accomplice by the more dominant Tamerlan? The film takes an ambiguous stance on the ongoing real-life debate: while it shows Dzhokhar having his moments of sadism and glee from the bombing and subsequent crimes, it also shows how submissive he was in Tamerlan's presence, and how, whenever he tried to stand up for himself, Tamerlan would always intimidate and threaten him back into submission with ease.
- Base-Breaking Character: Tommy Saunders is a big one. While virtually no one has criticized Mark Wahlberg's actual performance, the use of a composite character as the focus of the story has been controversial. Some feel it was necessary in order to tie the events together and keep the story focused while others feel that having a character at many major beats of the story was unnecessary and took away opportunities for the real servicemen to be portrayed.
- Narm: Tommy talking about his wife's infertility to frame an uplifting monologue on good versus evil can come off as superfluous Glurge, as there were more than enough real motivational stories from the attack that could have been used in its place.
- Narm Charm: The bit where the Watertown resident gives the police officer a sledgehammer to use during a shootout would be Narm were it not for the fact the officer actually gets to use it to subdue the elder Tsarnaev.
- Nightmare Fuel: The bombing scene and the chaos that follows. The movie doesn't pull punches at how horrifying the event was.
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